Eco Explorers at Lower Winskill Farm, Langcliffe: Report of 29-31 July 2019 event. Book now for Mon 24 Aug 2026

It is now 2026.
In 2026 we are holding one day
Mon 24 Aug. Details and booking form will be put up shortly

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Below is the page as written in 2019. 

Would you like to explore the flower-rich fields of Lower Winskill high above Langcliffe and Stainforth, Settle with Eco Explorers?

Would you like to find the names of our common Dales wildflowers in bloom, try out using the binoculars we provide, follow a geology trail, and compete with other children (and adults) to find “coloured wiggly worms?

These are just some of the fun activities enjoyed by children and adults at the three July Eco Explorers workshops run by Churches Together in Settle at Lower Winskill Farm, led by local naturalists, and with 14 families attending for one or two out of the three days. 

And we are going to have three more mornings later in August:.. with extra activities: bees .. moths.. maps..

These mornings are to be repeated
with extra new activities
on 28,29 30 August   

To book: Contact Sally Waterson  sally@thewatersons.org 0775 3618381  

Let me tell you more about the July event: First we met each other. There were pictures of butterflies to colour, then a game altogether in the field seeing who could spot "Un-nature" objects that had been hidden.

Then we had workshops. People could choose two workshops.It was hard to make a choice from those offered.

I (Judith Allinson) ran wildflower, lichens and tree activities.

Keith Waterson ran geology trips to see the fossils and glacial erratic “Samson’s Toe” along the lane from the farm. 

Les Chandler who has formerly worked for the RSPB ran some run-around nature games for the children and adults, and binocular activities.

Sally Waterson organised colouring sessions and other indoor activities (but fortunately we can save most of the these for the August event because we avoided the forecast rain did not come in the mornings).

After the joint activities and two workshop sessions we gathered together, sat down on rugs and chairs in the barn and Sally led a session with action songs and a reading from “Open the Book” about God creating our wonderful world. Then we had a sandwich lunch - prepared with the help of volunteers and some of the Mums/Grandmums

We are all grateful to farmer Tom Lord who owns the farm for allowing us to use the premises, with its meadows and limestone pastures, beautiful flowers and exhilarating views. He explained a little about the farm. He has managed the fields near by, by reducing grazing in spring and summer, so that they are so good for wild flowers and butterflies.



It's great place to meet. There are toilets and a small newly painted white walled meeting room with sink, and also the large barn where we met that was a shelter from the wind and available for indoor events should the weather turn wet.

We have a second club, 28-30 August ”Eco Explorers 2”. with different Bird activities with Les, and Bee watching and Moth collecting activities, plus the sessions we had in July, but with different flowers and trees and lichens.

One grandmother had enjoyed it so much she asked “Do you do similar activities for adults?”. And Ella (aged 2) is reported to have been going round Settle pointing to each tree saying “Ash?”.

Judith said

“It was delightful to accompany the children as we walked through the field full of red and purple flowers - magenta coloured Betony, Midland-Railway-red Greater Burnet, mauve Small Scabious, shocking-pink Herb Robert, crimson Red Clover, pale pink Yarrow, maroon Wild-Thyme and purple Bush Vetch.   

(And that’s not even telling you about the yellow flowers).” 

When we come back at the end of August these will be replaced with purple Knapweed and pale-blue Devil’s-bit Scabious, and lots of blue Harebells. It is great to be able to share the names of our local plants.

    

We  plan that “Messy Church” sessions in Autumn will be held on the third Sunday each month starting at 4pm at St John’s Church Hall, Settle - and will include some outdoor sessions in the local churchyard, and school playing field (Also see Facebook - Settle Messy Church).

For others interested in Wildlife, do contact Craven Conservation Group - who run wildlife activities in the Settle area - Children are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Picking fruit at the Settle Hub Allotment at Cammock Lane

 These pictures show us picking fruit at the Settle Community Hub Allotment at Cammock Lane Allotments on Thur 2 July.  I was back there a week later this morning at 8am picking more raspberries -  with the dew on the fruit in the cool before the day gets hot. 

Lichens on Langcliffe Cobbles by War Memorial Fountain -

Lecanora campestris often found on sandstone slabs at ground level - found on the kerb and cobbles at Langcliffe Fountain. (Identifying features: The edge of the thallus is white and the very edge is fimbriate (looks frayed). The dark brown discs have a pale "Jam-tart" rim.

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One day whilst recording Fern-Grass (Catapodium rigidum) in what may be the only place it still survives near Settle - on the cobbles at Langcliffe  Fountain..

Langcliffe War Memorial

Fern-Grass:  Catapodium rigidum

I decided to record the lichens too.

All the lichens presented here are very common ones - so it would be worth your while learning them.

Circinarea contorta subsp contorta   - grows on limestone and on concrete

Circinarea contorta subsp contorta   - grows on limestone and on concrete. There is one apothecium (fruiting body) per areole, (Little island) and each areole is roundish and many are separated from each other.

Circinarea contorta subsp contorta   - grows on limestone and on concrete

Getting Low

Verrucaria nigrescens. This likes a base rich substrate such as limestone.

Protoblastenia rupestis - Langcliffe cobbles. It likes concrete and limestone.

Cladonia pocillum. I call it  Limestone Pixie-cup, but I Naturalist calls it Rosette Pxie cup.

The war memorial made of sandstone had two orange lichens:

1. Candelariella vitellina - Common Goldspeck Lichen. This does not turn red when alkali (KOH) is applied. 

Candelariella vitellina - Common Goldspeck Lichen.  Closer view
This does not turn red when alkali (KOH) is applied

2. Common Sunburst Lichen Xanthoria parietina This is very common around Settle and turns red when KOH is applied.

Filamentous alga. Maybe algae will get investigated in 2028..

Rhizocarpon reductum. This grows on siliceous acid rock, such as sandstone. The back discs often grow in concentric circles

Rhizocarpon reductum. This grows on siliceous acid rock, such as sandstone. The back discs often grow in concentric circles

There is a little bit of Lecanroa campestris (1st picture on this page) and Rhizocarpon reductum on these kerb stones. However, the biggest patches are formed by "Chewing gum lichen"  Protoparmeliopsis muralis formerly called Lecanora muralis)s

Protoparmeliopsis muralis formerly called Lecanora muralis)s

. This has "jam-tart-like reproductive bodies but has a lobed edge to the thallus.

 

Catapodium rigidum - Fern Grass - Langcliffe cobbles - a rarety in Craven.

 Fern Grass is an uncommon grass in the Northern half of Britain.

I see Fern-Grass so rarely that I remember stories about all the places I have found it in Britain.  

(Hint for vegetatively identifying this tiny annual grass of dry places, with leaves less than 2cm long - It has yellowish roots. - or look for dead flowers from last year) 

To get it onto my list of Langcliffe Grasses in 2026 - and this gets it up to number 29 - there is only (now) one place I would have to go - the cobbles beside the Fountain in Langcliffe!!.

And there on 2nd July 2026 it still was.  Its neat, regular inflorescences sticking up all of 1 or 2 inches (8cm) above ground level.

So low it required my hand lens and kneeling/lying mat.

See maps taken from the botanical Society of the British Isles website

This annual grass would have been flowering in late May. By now most of the flower heads have turned magenta-red-brown-fawn -

 (That is those that had not finished and died altogether.)

I chatted to the owner of the house on the right. Tomorrow (Sat and Sun 4 & 5 July) is Langcliffe Open Gardens. His garden is open. He was just painting the white window frames on his house. He had just mown the grass on the cobbles he said ruefully when I explained I was looking at grasses. "That is fine for the fern grass I said, It doesn't like the more vigorously growing grasses. 

This annual grass would have been flowering in late May. By now most of the flower heads had turned magenta-red-brown - (that is those that had not finished and died altogether..)

 But a few had new green flower heads regrowing.

If you go to the cobbles there is a mown grassy, deep soil area near the birch tree where the grass is thick and there is no fern grass.  

Look in the areas where there is bare soil between the cobbles - this year covered by mosses since we had a some periods of rain over winter and spring.  There is lots of Annual Meadow-grass which has a more irregular flowerhead, light green leaves over 4mm wide that are folded lengthways, and which flowers all year (you will probably know it from your own garden) 

Other grasses growing on the cobbled area (As well as the Fern grass and the Annual Meadow-grass) include: Cock's-foot, Rye-grass, Yorkshire Fog, Smooth Meadow-grass, Common Bent, Creeping Bent, Red Fescue,(plus near the birch tree- a big one I am thinking about - ) That's a total of ten yesterday.

I have a list of 16 herbs - (flowering plants that are not grasses).

You'll see me down there again shortly looking for another 4 to bring my total of plants on the cobbles up to thirty!!

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That's not to count the 11 species of lichens I can recognise, which I will do a post for later, the five species of moss I can differentiate and the alga in the fountain.

And just one note on the fountain - I wonder if it is fed by water sinking in the ground next to the carpark, where I found the Plicate Sweet Grass last week - where the highways department were placing a drain .  ?? Or is it fed from our water supply. Or was it built when they built the institute?. Can anyone from Langcliffe tell me?

DO come to Langcliffe Open Gardens 4-5 July

Wildflower walks round Settle from Covid onwards..

Grasses - index to posts about different species of grass on this site

I hope you have enjoyed looking into the fascinating world of the cobbles round the fountain at Langcliffe.

Koeleria macrantha - Crested Hair-grass - and Langcliffe limestone wildflowers growing with it

There are two parts to this post.

1. The more  serious "How to identify it"  part to fit in with my series on grasses in this blog.

2. The chatty bit (lower down)  about finding it in flowering at Plantlife's Reserve Winskill Stones, above Langcliffe, and the flowers that grow with it.

Crested Hair-grass is a grass most beginner botanists have not heard of, because there are big parts of Britain where it does not grow.

It is a beautiful small grass of low nutrient limestone and chalk pastures, and  base rich sandy areas by the sea.  It grows  where we can often find other delightful lime-loving flowers. It can grow in some old meadows on base rich soil. 

It is unlikely to occur in places that most people walk over most of the time: city streets - heavily fertilised meadows, in playing fields or lawns (unless your lawn happens to be on very thin chalk or limestone soil), in wetlands  or bogs or woodland. And it is so very small, so people just do not see it.

It is one of the indicator species of old grassland I had to look out for when surveying grassland for the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Without flowers it is quite hard to identify - until you notice the tiny hairs that line the edge of the leaf blades and the tops of the ridges on the upper surface if the of the tiny (2mm wide, 3cm long) blades of grass. 

When I was at the Field Studies Council's Malham Tarn Field Centre  teaching A level Ecology weeks we compared the vegetation on different types of grassland and looked at different ways of measuring species abundance. For example we compared plants on rendzinas (shallow limestone soil) and brown earths (deeper soil but still not too acid) 

Some of you might know Red Fescue (Festuca rubra) and Common Bent (Agrostis capillaris). For the tiny grasses in the turf I used to say "If it has needle-like leaf blades, call it Festuca rubra; If it has flat leaf blades call it Agrostis capillaris. Agrostis leaves do have ribs, but they are very fine ribs: Festuca rubra at the base have needle-like leaves,  but when its shoots start to flower they produce wider leaves with about 5 to 7 to 9 ribs.

Koerleia is about half way between this.

BUT  IT  HAS  HAIRS  ON  THE RIBS  ON  THE  BLADES when looked at with a hand lens.

 Its inflorescences are quite distinctive- Slightly silvery; they can be compact most of the time like a lombardy poplar, but sometimes the inflorescence branches spread out - when the weather is conducive for the florets to shed their pollen.

The inflorescence has a hairy stem. The only other common grass with a hairy stem is Yorkshire Fog.

25 June 2026 - at Winskill Stones Plantlife Reserve but probably been flowering for a week or two.

The slope opposite the Quarry cutting Car Park at Plantlife's Winskill Stone Reserve is a good place to see Crested Hair-grass

Note this year you can see that the "Landscape Picture Ash tree"
has really been affected by Ash die-back

Koeleria macrantha 20 June 2024  limestone pasture slope in Lower Winskill Farm

Small Heath butterfly on Koeleria macrantha,  on YWT's Southerscales reserve

And here are a few plants growing with it: 

Thyme.

This is Thyme-leaved Sandwort - it is extremely tiny.

Salad Burnet close-up - each flower has four green sepals and at the end of the style is the tassel of red stigmas.

Bird's-foot Trefoil

For my records, the reason I went up to Winskill Stones on 25 June was look look for Wavy Hair-grass and Nardus stricta  which used to grow in a tiny area with deeper soil not far from the road 25 -20 years ago - I used to show it to people who came on grasses courses I ran at Lower Winskill Farm. Sadly these two species do not seem to be there any more.  

This is no great crisis for nature conservation - just an interesting fact, and it means I will have to walk or drive further to look for these acid-loving plants. For some reason the soil had remained more acid there, left over from the days when the area had had different management. It was the only place on the reserve where I had found these two species. It may even be a consequence of the rain having a lot of sulphur dioxide in it up till about 30 years ago.

Well I shall just have to go elsewhere in Langcliffe Parish and record it these two species in July

Wildflower walks round Settle from Covid onwards..

Grasses - index to posts about different species of grass on this site